Hugh nodded calmly, but in truth, he was vastly relieved. The missive, forged by the same clerk Henry had clipped with a pewter cup when he’d first learned of L’Évêque’s excommunication, was done with great skill, exactly as the king would have done it, down to the signature of the monarch.Calum may not have been a fast reader but he had a good eye and he had seen Henry’s missives before, many times. If it was able to pass his scrutiny, then surely it would pass Val’s. At least, that was the hope.
“He does,” Hugh replied. “I do not know if you’ve yet heard, but Canterbury excommunicated York, London, and Salisbury for crowning Young Henry at the king’s request. As you know, Canterbury was out of the country when Henry had his son crowned. When Canterbury returned, he excommunicated the clergy who did it. This power struggle between the two of them has to stop, Calum. Henry has ordered Canterbury arrested.”
Calum was astonished. “My God,” he hissed. “So he will send Val to do it?”
“Val has been ordered to.”
Calum looked at the other knights; FitzUrse, le Breton, de Tracy… these were men deep in Henry’s inner circle, men who had served the king flawlessly for many years. The weight of the order began to push on Calum, so much so that he sought the nearest chair, sinking into it as he digested the contests of the missive.
“God’s Bones,” he finally hissed. “So it has come to this. All of these years of the king and the man who used to be his closest ally and it has come to this– the arrest of Becket. But why Val? Henry surrounds himself with hundreds of men of greater rank.”
“But Val is the law in Hampshire, which includes Winchester,” Hugh pointed out. “It is his duty to carry out the king’s arrest warrants when they are issued from Winchester Castle. As unsavory as this is, Val has no choice.”
Calum knew that. He looked back at the warrant, still in his hand, and sighed heavily. “The church’s anger will not be directed at Henry for this,” he muttered. “It will be directed at Val. It was very clever of the king to order another man to do his dirty work.”
Hugh was aware. He’d said the same thing, essentially, and therefore struggled against the guilt of it. It was he who was putting Val’s neck on the line in the name of justice, not Henry. But he still stuck to the belief that Henry had ordered this; all of the four of the knights still did– him, FitzUrse, le Breton, and de Tracy. They all were still under the firm belief that Henry had ordered Canterbury arrested. Therefore, he pushed aside the guilt.
It had to be done.
“It is the wish of the king, little brother,” Hugh said with resignation. “We are not to question him. We simply carry out his commands. Agreed?”
Calum didn’t look convinced but he nodded nonetheless. “Agreed,” he said begrudgingly. Then, he stood up and went to Val’s table, putting the warrant on it. “Val should be home soon. Will you not stay and greet him?”
Hugh shook his head. “The four of us intend to go on ahead of Val to Canterbury and attempt to talk Becket into peacefully surrendering,” he said. “There is no time to waste on the king’s order, so we must go today. As soon as Val arrives, he is to follow us. We shall procure rooms at the West Gate Inn. Hopefully, by the time he arrives in Canterbury, we will already have Becket in our custody. It is our hope that the man will not put up a fight.”
From what Calum knew of Thomas Becket, that would not be an easy thing. “He will not surrender,” he said. “The man has been in contention with Henry for years. What makes you think he will peacefully surrender to you?”
Hugh stood up from the chair, stretching his body as he did so. “Because we will tell him that Val de Nerra is coming for him,” he said simply. “If he does not wish to be confronted by a man who can use a sword better than almost anyone in England, then it would be in his best interest to surrender peacefully.”
Calum cocked his head curiously. “So you are using Val as a threat?”
“It is a good threat.”
Hugh winked at his brother when he said it, which caused a resurgence of Calum’s shock. So they were going to threaten Canterbury with violence from the Itinerant Justice of Hampshire if the man did not surrender? That was putting Val in an extremely precarious position that he wasn’t even aware of yet. Val’s world was about to change dramatically and the man had no idea. Calum felt a great deal of pity for him.
“Then I am sorry you cannot be here to tell Val the course his life is about to take,” he said. “If I did not know better, I would think you were cowardly in leaving so soon. It is as if you do not want to face Val with this.”
Those words would have had swords drawn had they come from anyone else, but Hugh didn’t draw his sword, mostly because what Calum said was true. But he would not acknowledge that. He simply reached out and patted his brother on the cheek.
“Tell Val that he must come to Canterbury immediately,” he said evenly. “We will see him there.”
Calum watched his brother leave the solar, a rather baleful expression on his face. He didn’t even acknowledge FitzUrse, le Breton, or de Tracy. He thought they were all cowardly for dropping the warrant and then departing for Canterbury. It felt very much as if they were fleeing, as Calum had said; men who didn’t want to face Val because of the seriousness of the situation. Much like Henry, they were pushing off the responsibility to Val.
Now, it would be Val who would intervene in perhaps the most volatile situation in England at the moment. He would literally be putting himself between the king and the church, a place that no man wanted to be. Two powerful factions vyingfor control of the country, two very stubborn institutions that refused to give ground, now with Val caught between them.
It was more than likely going to tear Val apart.
Calum fervently hoped not.
*
It was closeto sunset by the time Val reached Selborne.
Usually, the sight of his fortress brought him great comfort, but not tonight. Looking at the structure, all he could feel was emptiness. No Vesper, no joy. The last time he was here, she was here and he’d become quite smitten with the lovely young woman. Odd how even her short stay here had somehow impressed itself on him until all he could think of was the evening they’d shared in the great hall, with feasting and music. Precious hours he’d spent with her, not realizing they might be his last.
As he approached the gatehouse, the sentries on duty began to take up the call and the iron gates were opened. Men with torches were moving about, greeting him in the dark passageway beneath the gatehouse, taking the horses from him as he headed across the bailey.
It was relatively quiet in the bailey at this time of night. Men were being fed in the great hall and patrols were on the walls, the flickering torches warding off the darkness. There was very little activity in the bailey itself. Val made his way up the steps of the keep, slowly, his mind heavy with the sorrow of the past two days. This wasn’t something he was used to and he was, therefore, having difficulty dealing with it. Just as he reached the top of the steps, a figure appeared in the doorway.
